<p> The current study included a content analysis of PG-13 movie trailers to evaluate the content of risk behavior, related consequences and gender variables. The sample consisted of trailers representing the top ten blockbuster films from each year between 2008 and 2012. The sample was selected to represent the most popular films because they reach the largest audience. The risk behavior variables included violence, tobacco use, alcohol, sexual conduct and body modification. They were chosen based on risk behaviors cited by the CDC and previous research. </p><p> The purpose of the study was to investigate an antecedent of Social Cognitive Theory. The results indicate higher levels of risk behaviors in comparison to their related consequences. Male characters were found to be more likely to engage in risk behaviors than women, with the exception of sexual conduct.</p>

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2007. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 69-02, Section: A, page: 0438. Adviser: Scott Althaus. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 166-185) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

Revision of the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [299]-303).

Revision of the author's Thesis (doctoral)--Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, 1993. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [299]-303).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 1998. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 239-256). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 192-201). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

<p> The purpose of this study was to formulate a preliminary conceptual perception about how Kuwaiti college students in the United States use and perceive electronic media. This qualitative study has sought to recognize the utilization habits and perception of Kuwaiti college students in the USA toward electronic media. The study examines the reasons for the high degree of dependency on electronic media by Kuwaiti students in the USA and the most significant features and properties that are available by electronic media, which attract youth attention. This research conducted semi-structured, in-depth interviews with a sample of 15 Kuwaiti college students in the United States. It was concluded that Kuwaiti college students are the major users of recent technology and pioneers of electronic and social media. It also seeks for future investigations to understand whether the demographic characteristics of Kuwaiti college students are affecting their media utilization habits. </p><p>

<p> The TV industry is a competitive marketplace with rapidly realigning powers and players, fueled by an environment of intense conglomeration and consolidation. The present study focuses on three facets of this industry that are inextricably related to competition: (1) government rules, regulations, and policies; (2) the role of TV content production; and, (3) the role of consumer behavior and preference. Further, it explores the technology behind TV, as television distribution is intrinsic to the future of the industry. </p><p>

<p> Videogames are complex media objects that require significant input from the player for their enjoyment. The multiple experiences and outcomes that can emerge when an individual plays a game present difficult methodological challenges for games researchers. This dissertation proposes two complementary methods for studying this complexity: <i>temporal data collection</i> and <i>situational analysis</i>. These help delineate both how players acquire knowledge from a game system and use their previous knowledges in future videogame experiences by focusing on the moment-to-moment decisions and actions that the player takes in a given situations. In addition to providing a way to investigate player skill and knowledge of a system over time, this method also provides a way to understand how the meanings that players and scholars make from games develop over the course of their play. </p><p> By expanding on previous definitions of the <i>repertoire</i>&mdash;the sets of skills and knowledges that player rely on in overcoming a game&rsquo;s challenges&mdash;, I develop models for how knowledge is acquired, incorporated, and utilized over the course of an individual game and different game genres. These models developed through the individual situations that occurred in my analysis of these games and show how knowledges and skills develop not only within a single game, but are translatable from game to game. I developed the concept of a <i>technique</i> to provide a means for scholars and designers to understand how an individual&rsquo;s performance is practiced and evolves as they learn more about the game system and come to grow comfortable with particular actions. The second performance model developed in this dissertation, the <i>play style</i>, describes the general ways that a player approaches a game and how different goals, both internal and external, can effect how knowledge and skills are used. </p><p> Lastly, through the temporal data collection and situational analysis methods, I am able to further elucidate the roles that luck plays in videogames&mdash;an undertheorized arena of gameplay experience. I provide three distinct ways that scholars can discuss the experience of luck and how it intersects with the repertoires of skill that a player develops: designed chance mechanics, glitches, and botches. <i>Designed chance mechanics</i> are the elements of a videogame that provide randomness to the game system and must be understood and responded to appropriately by the player in order for their success. <i>Glitches</i> are aberrations in the software or hardware that can develop unexpectedly through player action. Lastly, a <i>botch </i>, adapted from the world of professional wrestling, provides a model for understanding how feelings of luck emerge from unexpected situations that are not intelligible within the repertoires of player knowledge. With these concepts, I have provided the field of game studies a comprehensive method for discussing the forms of luck that emerge from the player&rsquo;s subjective experience, the system&rsquo;s designed uncertainty, and mixtures of the two. By offering models of performance and consideration of a largely overlooked concept like luck, I provide a nuanced look into the complicated development of skill that occurs in the performance of videogame play.</p><p>

This dissertation explores historical notions of resistance alongside contemporary playful forms of rebellion. This analysis is centered on the relationship of play to social protest encompassing why we play, how we play, and what this can mean to academics studying social movements, as well as specific contributions for engagement as activists and artists. I propose the need to re-invest in the possibilities of social protest given the absurd nature of certain contemporary political situations and the negative exposure of “somber street protest” by the mainstream media. I rely on play research, performance studies, folktales of tricksters and clowns, sociological research on dissent, analysis of consumerism and identity, and activist publications. This examination includes the work of Erich Fromm, Albert Camus, the Situationist International, Victor Turner, and Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Social protest needs to be dynamic to attract participants, inviting participation and enjoyment. My dissertation develops a philosophical structure furthering how we can conceive of dissent within the current political and cultural framework in the United States and investigates actual sites of innovative social movements, including the Clandestine Insurgent Rebel Clown Army, the Ministry of Reshelving, Tape Babies, Detroit Demolition, guerrilla gardening, and the Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping.